The Bozeman weekly chronicle., 1887-03-16


family; others had felt perhaps too keenly
the deep responsibility resting upon them
when chosen from the panel as jurors, and
had evaded their public duties; few had de-
clined office and low salary; but no one
shrank from the possibility Of having been
called upon to assume the functions of Peggy
Moffat, the heiress.
The will was contested-frst by the widow,
whom it now appeared had never been To-
gally divorced from the deceased; next by
four of his cousins, who awoke, only too late,
to a consciousness Of his moral and pecuniary
worth. But the humble legatee-a singularly
plain, unpretending, uneducated western
girl-exhibited dogged pertinacity in
claiming her rights. She rejected all compro-
mises. A rough sense of Justice in the CON-
munity. while doubling her ability to take
care Of the whole fortune, suggested that she
ought to be content with 100000. aShe's
hound to throw even that away on some
derned skunk Of q man, natoorally; but
three millions Is too much to give q
chap for maxim her unhappy. It's ofYerin'
temptation to cussedness-" The only
opposing voice TO this counsel came from
the sardouic lips of Mr.. Jack Hamlin "Sup.
pose," suggested that gentleman, turning
abruptly on the speaker-"suppose, when
you won $4,000 Of me last Friday
night suppose that instead of handing
you over tho money as did-suppose I'd got
up on my hind legs, and said, Look yer, Bill
Wethersbee, you're d-d fool. II give
ye that twenty thousand, you'll throw it
away in the first skin game in Frisco, and
hand it over to the first short card sharp you'll
meet. There's a thousand-enough for you
to fling away,-take it and getI Suppose
what I'd said to you was tho frozen truth,
and you know'd 1t, would that have been the
square thing to play on your But here
Wethersbee quickly pointed out the inefl-
cheney of the comparison by stating that he
had won the money fairly with stake aAnd
hcv do you know" demanded Hamlin sav-
agely, bending his black eyes on the aston
ished casuist-"how do you know that the gal
heznt put down stalker The man STAN
mered an unintelligible reply. The gambler
laid his white hand on Wethersbees shoulder.
"Look here, old man." he said, "every gal
stakes her whole pile-you can bet your life
on that-whatever's her little game. If she
took to keerds instead of her feelings, IL sbed
put up chips instead o body and soul, she'd
bust every bank 'twixt this and 'Friscoi You
hear meF
Somewhat of this idea was conveyed, fear
not quite as sentimentally, to Peggy Molfat
herself. The best legal wisdom of San Fran
cisco, retained by the widow and relatives, took
occasion, in private interview with Peggy,
to point out that she stood in the quasi-crimi-
nal attitude of having unlawfully prncticed
upon the affections of an insane elderly gentle
man, with view of getting possession of his
property, and suggested to her that no vestige
Of her moral character would remain after
the trial, II she persisted in forcing her claims
to that issue. 1t is said that Peggy, on hear
ing this, STOPPED washing tho plate she had in
her hands, and, twisting the towel around her
fingers, fixed her small pale blue eyes at the
lawyer.
@And ez that the kind o chirpin these crit
ters keep upI'
II regret to say. my dear young LADY," re-
sponded the lawyer, 1that the world is cen.
serious must add he continued, with en-.
gaging frankness, shat we professional law
yers are apt to study the opinion of the
world, and that such will be the theory Of
our sde."
"Then,' said Peggy stoutly, aez allow
I've got to go into court to defend my char
acter, l might as well pack in them three mil
lions too.n
There is hearsay evidence that Peg added
to this speech wish and desire to "bust the
crust Of her traducers, and, remarking that
"that was the kind Of hairpin" she was,
closed the conversation with an unfortunate